BEETLES

Beetles are the most biodiverse group of creatures known, with more than 380,000 species, or 40% of all insect species. A recent study suggests the secret to beetle diversity, and likely to that of other insects groups, is their lifestyle versatility. This ensures that their species do not go extinct as readily as mammal or amphibian species.

In 1960, after several band name endeavors, John Lennon and his friend, Stu Sutcliffe, came up with the name “The Beatles” The band loved Buddy Holly and his group The Crickets. They went through several insect names and finally arrived at “Beetles”, which later would be “The Beetles”. John, who loved puns, thought of changing the spelling to “Beatles,” as they were a beat group.

The Beetle is one of the oldest nameplates of cars still in use today. In the U.S., the Bug was sold between 1950 and 1979, and as a new model in 1998. The first batch of cars was born in 1938 in Germany, and in the early ’50s, 21 million of them would be sold worldwide. Even after U.S. sales ceased in 1979, the Bettle continued to be built and sold in Mexico and Brazil. Over all these years, very little has changed in the model.

In Brazil, a type of beetle was a theme to a book read by lots of teens in the 1970’s and 1980’s. O Escaravelho do Diabo, or “The Devil’s Scarab” tells the story of a series of deaths of redheaded people who receive an insect prior to their murder. it later became a movie that brought nostalgia to the former book readers.

 

1. Which areas are related to beetles in the text?

(   ) driving

(   ) literature

(   )  dance

(   )  movies

(   ) biology

(   )  physical exercises

(   )  music

(   )  theater

2. Why can’t beetles go extinct easily?

3. Besides the name of the insect, what else did the band consider in coming up with the name?

4. What word in the 3rd paragraph is used as synonym of “insect”?

5. Where is the car originally from?

6. How are beetles and scrabs related?

7. Study these words and match.

 

a) versatility	(   ) person who has red heir
b) endeavor	(   ) amount of something that is made at one time
c) pun	(   ) serious effort or attempt
d) batch	(   ) stop happening, end
e) cease	(   ) ability to do many different things
f) redheaded	(   ) a play on words